I think you are spot on. And I also think that I will definitely have to check out this comp. I wouldn't mind, if this baby would cost about 4,000 $. As long as it delivers for 4,000 $ I would have a hard time to justify NOT TO PURCHASE.
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15" OLED Panel from LG Headed for Apple Notebook This Summer?
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I think you are spot on. And I also think that I will definitely have to check out this comp. I wouldn't mind, if this baby would cost about 4,000 $. As long as it delivers for 4,000 $ I would have a hard time to justify NOT TO PURCHASE.
Maybe I can, but, alas, I currently don't like it design wise. Call it bad taste, but the black bezel is butt ugly imo. And the black chicklet keys - ARGH!
Currently I'd rather go for a maxed out Vaio (which I refrain from, as I like Mac OS X) feature wise than go for a MBP.
I went for a maxed out 15" PowerBook that retailed for even more than $4000. I currently type on it, though it's getting really old. I still love it, and though it may lack speed, I personally feel that's it's really higher quality than any MBP currently.
It was a hard decision some months ago - new computer or replace dead batteries on my PB. I went for the battery replacement, as the current MBPs - did I say I don't like their design?
Why I write this novel? Well, just to prove that there really are people willing to spend $4,000 on a laptop that delivers.
Wishful thinking: I would so love, if Apple came back with the swappable drive bay concept like in the Pismo. Don't need an optical drive? Swap against second battery - Perfect.
Excuse my ignorance, but what makes an OLED screen any better? Aren't OLED's just the backlight? How can the backlight create a clearer, colorfuller
You are funny. I suggest you search for OLED display on wikipedia and educate yourself.
This is one of those rumors that I have my doubts about. OLED is definitely the future but it is far too expensive to put into a product right now. It would also be in a really small screen - maybe a the rumored high end iphone? I done see how they could put it in 13 inches or up and not charge an absolute fortune for it. I see some people talking about $4000 for a computer with it and I agree it would be about that much but there is no way the rest of the computer would be fully loaded.
I still think it is too early for the technology but I would love to be wrong.
I still think it is too early for the technology but I would love to be wrong.
Excuse my ignorance, but what makes an OLED screen any better? Aren't OLED's just the backlight? How can the backlight create a clearer, colorfuller
Or just read this short thread. But for your benefit, OLEDs are Organic Light-Emitting Diodes. Thus, they emit light. No backlight needed. They're so small that they can be printed onto material, including flexible, fabric and glass surfaces. When a transparent OLED display is turned on, it allows light to pass through in both directions. These could be placed in windshields or windows or other heads-up displays. Eventually, large sheets of OLEDs will replace fluorescent lights because they can be whiter, brighter and more energy efficient than current lighting. Tony Stark loves OLEDs.
But! Then how will the Apple logo on the back side light up?
Unless this is solved I can't see how Apple could use OLEDs in laptops.
But! Then how will the Apple logo on the back side light up?
Unless this is solved I can't see how Apple could use OLEDs in laptops.
Easy. They'd just use OLEDs for the logo, itself.
You miss the point I guess. Even a LED backlit LCD by compared is not a 'maxed out spec'.
If you have ever seen live the SONY XEL-1 or a Kodak OLED Photoframe you realize how poor the quality of an LCD is in comparison.
An OLED display is the 'maxed out spec' - which is why it would be worth paying $4,000 for a high-end laptop with an OLED display IMHO. If 'maxed out specs' is what you want.
Yes and no.
- OLED displays have typically little pixels that emit red/green/blue light themselves.
- So OLED displays generally do not need any backlight.
- And because pixels light up themselves (rather than like with LCDs where a backlight is blocked with a 'black' pixel) OLEDs do not suffer any light-bleed.
- As a result they have perfect contrast ratios as pixels switched off are truly black.
- Also black pixels hardly consume any power, so the darker the screen the less energy it uses, unlike LCDs where the backlight is always on so constantly uses the same amount of energy.
- Since there is no need for a backlight OLED displays are also very thin, typically around 1mm for the complete display, some as thin as 0.3mm!
- And finally because pixels light themselves the viewing angles are 180 degrees horizontally and vertically. There is no color shift at even extreme angles. Unlike the current 17" MBP which exhibits a rather extreme color shift IMHO with poor viewing angles.
However, you are right insofar as there are white colored OLEDs too, currently used for experimental lighting. Philips is hugely involved in those.
So it is conceivable to do a 'cheap' OLED by using a white OLED backlight with traditional LCD panel in front.
Yet this is not what is typically understood as 'OLED display', as an OLED/LCD setup loses most of the benefits, except perhaps thinness.
Agreed.
But you are aware that someone has to make the first step.
A company like Apple which tends to charge extra for premium systems is much more likely to be the first than a vendor known for cheap machines.
Personally I really do hope Apple will make the first step.
At least they did invest in LG systems recently with a huge front-up sum, so this rumor could be true.
Would be nice if this was for an OLED display in a new MacBook Air or a new high-end 15" MacBook Pro.
Reading this forum I think there are enough people who would want a high-end Mac laptop but consider 17" just too huge to lug around.
I'm more than happy to spend $5,000 on a true mobile workstation from Apple. But if 17" is my only choice for such a model, then no thanks.
If I want a bigger screen I'll get an external monitor. But I still want a mobile system most of the time. A 17" notebook is not nearly as mobile as a 15" one, at least IMHO having tried both.
With all that, it would certainly not be $4000. It would be a lot more. Let's see:
512GB SSD: + $1000
16GB RAM: + $2000
Quad Core CPU: +$500
OLED Display: Not sure, but going by the Sony OLED TV, let's say +$2000
So add all that to a $2000 MBP, and what do you get? Roughly $7500. No one would pay that much for a computer these days
The OLED display will not cost as much as the SONY XEL-1 TV. This is a misconception. LG itself stated that it is roughly twice as expensive as a normal LED backlit LCD. This would put it in the $800 - $1,200 realm.Roughly $7500. No one would pay that much for a computer these days
And if you are in the market for a 'mobile workstation' then $4,000 - $7,000 is not an usual price. If you spec out a quad-core system with Blu-Ray drive, 8 or 16GB of RAM, 1-1.5GB VRAM Nvidia Quadro GPU and SSD RAID setup you're easily above $8,000.
That's why it is called 'mobile workstation'.
Have a look at the options for a HP EliteBook 8730w or a Dell Precision M6400. They start around $2,000 but go up, way up.
Maybe you cannot or don't want to pay that much but there are people who actually buy HP and DELL mobile workstation for that kind of money.
Or HP and DELL wouldn't offer them.
But who says you need to put all the goodies in right away?
Leave some room to grow in the future.
Start with 4GB of RAM and one HD and upgrade to more RAM or a second HD if you need it or when you can afford it.
Only parts you cannot easily swap later, like the screen, you should configure as good as you can afford initially.
That's why I'd rather buy a laptop with an OLED display and 3GB RAM (upgradeable to 8 or 16GB later) than a laptop with 8GB out the door but a mediocre LCD.
Aren't the current OLED screens that are being sold basically Production Prototypes or very limit production runs?
So those prices are due to no economy of scale coming in to it. Also the reason not many of these screens are in production no demand that isn't serviced by other produces.
A catch 22 they need to get them cheap enough to capture the demand to run the high volume plant but they can delivery that price till the plant is running.
Maybe why Apple is being courted to use the tech. Apple has cash if you can get Apple signed up on an averaged price per unit over say the next 12 months. Then you can use that cash to get the stream flowing. The gamble the company takes is it that it needs to sign up others in the process to scale up enough to make up the early panels sold at a loss.
I can't see Apple paying anywhere near the price of the current demo models if they are going to even consider using OLED panels. Still maybe a MacBookPro or Air thing to start.
So those prices are due to no economy of scale coming in to it. Also the reason not many of these screens are in production no demand that isn't serviced by other produces.
A catch 22 they need to get them cheap enough to capture the demand to run the high volume plant but they can delivery that price till the plant is running.
Maybe why Apple is being courted to use the tech. Apple has cash if you can get Apple signed up on an averaged price per unit over say the next 12 months. Then you can use that cash to get the stream flowing. The gamble the company takes is it that it needs to sign up others in the process to scale up enough to make up the early panels sold at a loss.
I can't see Apple paying anywhere near the price of the current demo models if they are going to even consider using OLED panels. Still maybe a MacBookPro or Air thing to start.
I call B.S.
Seems unrealistic that the first production OLED displays appear in an Apple laptop/tablet. Tv manufacturers are not having an easy time getting OLED ramped up for the much larger HDTV market.
Seems unrealistic that the first production OLED displays appear in an Apple laptop/tablet. Tv manufacturers are not having an easy time getting OLED ramped up for the much larger HDTV market.
wonderbread57 you're probably right.
But be aware that the main difficulty with OLED displays currently is to ramp up larger display sizes. Anything above 11" only exists in demo units. With a handful of 27" and 32" and even fewer 40" OLEDs publicly shown.
The first larger OLED LG is supposed to mass-produce are 15" displays.
So the reason why TV manufacturers aren't getting them is simply because there is no market for 15" TVs.
If and when 27", 32" or 40" OLEDs will start production no one knows. There's a slim chance we might see a 21" OLED TV from Sony this fall. But probably only in Japan.
Yet 21" is still a far cry from a 'decent' TV size.
HDTV 32" or 40" OLED screens are still a few years off.
I think we'll be seeing them in a few laptop displays first - before they hit big screen TVs.
But be aware that the main difficulty with OLED displays currently is to ramp up larger display sizes. Anything above 11" only exists in demo units. With a handful of 27" and 32" and even fewer 40" OLEDs publicly shown.
The first larger OLED LG is supposed to mass-produce are 15" displays.
So the reason why TV manufacturers aren't getting them is simply because there is no market for 15" TVs.
If and when 27", 32" or 40" OLEDs will start production no one knows. There's a slim chance we might see a 21" OLED TV from Sony this fall. But probably only in Japan.
Yet 21" is still a far cry from a 'decent' TV size.
HDTV 32" or 40" OLED screens are still a few years off.
I think we'll be seeing them in a few laptop displays first - before they hit big screen TVs.
MacBook Air going upstream?
There's been a lot of debate about the positioning of the MacBook Air.
The size of a larger 'netbook', performance wise somewhere between netbooks and laptops, yet the price of a more expensive laptop.
You just pay for the design...
Where does Apple go from here?
Many hope Apple will reduce the price (and maybe even size) and sell it as Apple's 'netbook' for $800-$1,000.
Yet if these OLED rumors are true, it's most likely Apple will go the other way, i.e. make the MacBook Air even more exclusive and upstream (and perhaps expensive).
In last week's quarterly report Apple stated that component prices were much more favorable than anticipated (no wonder in this economic climate).
So my guess would be instead of passing these savings on as price cuts, that Apple will use them on the MBA to purchase more expensive components, e.g. an OLED display - while keeping its price roughly the same.
Anyone know how many MBAs Apple sells? Probably not that many.
Which would be a perfect match.
OLEDs are going to be in limited supply initially. Not a great idea to use these in a multi-seller product like the MacBook or the 15" MacBookPro.
17" OLEDs don't exist yet, which leaves only the MacBook Air as a candidate.
And since its sales figures are probably not that high, using a screen that's in limited supply is doable.
At least this scenario makes the most sense to me: the MBA going upstream with an OLED display.
My second best guess would be a built-to-order high-end 15" MacBook Pro with OLED display. Much like the 17" used to have a 1920x1200 screen option (when the standard 17" had a lower res.).
My third guess would be a brand new high-end laptop from Apple, a true 'mobile workstation' with quad-core CPU and OLED display.
There's been a lot of debate about the positioning of the MacBook Air.
The size of a larger 'netbook', performance wise somewhere between netbooks and laptops, yet the price of a more expensive laptop.
You just pay for the design...
Where does Apple go from here?
Many hope Apple will reduce the price (and maybe even size) and sell it as Apple's 'netbook' for $800-$1,000.
Yet if these OLED rumors are true, it's most likely Apple will go the other way, i.e. make the MacBook Air even more exclusive and upstream (and perhaps expensive).
In last week's quarterly report Apple stated that component prices were much more favorable than anticipated (no wonder in this economic climate).
So my guess would be instead of passing these savings on as price cuts, that Apple will use them on the MBA to purchase more expensive components, e.g. an OLED display - while keeping its price roughly the same.
Anyone know how many MBAs Apple sells? Probably not that many.
Which would be a perfect match.
OLEDs are going to be in limited supply initially. Not a great idea to use these in a multi-seller product like the MacBook or the 15" MacBookPro.
17" OLEDs don't exist yet, which leaves only the MacBook Air as a candidate.
And since its sales figures are probably not that high, using a screen that's in limited supply is doable.
At least this scenario makes the most sense to me: the MBA going upstream with an OLED display.
My second best guess would be a built-to-order high-end 15" MacBook Pro with OLED display. Much like the 17" used to have a 1920x1200 screen option (when the standard 17" had a lower res.).
My third guess would be a brand new high-end laptop from Apple, a true 'mobile workstation' with quad-core CPU and OLED display.
Here's a fourth guess: OLED iPhone. The display would be small, 3.5", so the size limitation would not be an issue. Component pricing would seem to be the biggest setback, especially while maintaining the current pricing on the consumer side. Although, with such a small size and an order quantity of a few million, perhaps a reasonable price could have been reached.
I just can't imagine OLED in laptops (large displays) for at least a couple more years. iPhone/iPods- soon. Maybe this will give apple something to put into the new line of iPods next fall, since they have pretty much maxed out the thinness, and capacities are already sufficient. We'll see. Anticipation!!